


Speechless

by KrysKrossZee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Head Boy Draco Malfoy, Head Girl Hermione Granger, Hogwarts Eighth Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29407095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrysKrossZee/pseuds/KrysKrossZee
Summary: Hermione is a woman of words but for some reason, a certain blond-haired Slytherin manages to leave her speechless time and time again.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47
Collections: Dramione Valentine Exchange





	Speechless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inadaze22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inadaze22/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [DramioneValentineExchange](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DramioneValentineExchange) collection. 



> Ina, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. When I saw your name next to my prompt I got so incredibly nervous because I want it to be perfect for you. Anyway, this is what came from it...
> 
> Prompts used-
> 
> "I do love you but I'm afraid what that amount of love will do to me" - Almaz A

How Draco had become Head Boy upon their return to Hogwarts for what everyone was calling their ‘eighth year’, Hermione didn’t understand. Considering everything that he had done in the last two years, including trying to kill one of the previous head teachers, it didn’t make any sense, but if Hermione knew one thing then it was not to argue with Professor McGonagall. This was perhaps the only reason that she had agreed to be Head Girl in the end, though the fact that both Ron and Harry had protested the idea had spurned her on. In her opinion, Ron didn’t have the right to complain about who was Head Boy when he had been given the chance to return for a year and he had declined. Hermione was pretty sure that if he had been here then he would have been Head Boy and she wouldn’t have been stuck in this position where she was sharing living quarters and duties with a certain blond that drove her completely bonkers.

It was certainly easier to blame Ron and the fact that he hadn’t come back to school with her for how alone she felt. The loneliness had been the final nail in their already tattered relationship. Hermione knew that it wasn’t Ron’s fault that he was grieving the loss of his brother, but she was still bitter that it had come between them, that it was something that had driven them apart. She had done everything that she could have possibly done to be there for him, except staying home from school, but Ron knew how much Hermione’s education meant to her and he was sure that he would never ask for her to drop out.

They had broken up, by owl, just a few weeks ago, though Hermione hadn’t told anyone about this yet. It didn’t make sense to, not when she was just here to get her NEWTs and secure her future. She wasn’t here to fraternise, and she certainly hadn’t told Malfoy when he would just go on and on about how he had seen this coming, that a Weasley could never be trusted, blah blah blah.

What was even worse was that at some point over the course of this year, Hermione had found that she had developed  _ feelings _ towards her fellow Head, and this disgusted her. She knew that he wasn’t the person that she had been convinced that he was for practically all of their Hogwarts career, working so closely with him had taught her that, but that didn’t mean that she particularly liked him.

And yet, she  _ did _ like him. She liked him in a way that made her stomach ache, in a way that made her chest constrict. She didn’t know why it felt like Malfoy sucked the air from every single room that he was in, but at the same time it wasn’t a bad thing. It was strange, but not  _ bad _ .

“Oi! Granger!” He was clicking his fingers in front of her face now and she swatted his hands away angrily. She wouldn’t be treated like a second class citizen, she had made that clear when they had first been told that they would be living together.

“What is it, Malfoy?” She asked as she set down the book that she had clearly not been reading, but she was hoping that he hadn’t noticed that part.

“You were staring at me again.” He said, his voice flat as he dropped down onto the armchair across from hers, his own stack of books wobbling on the armrest and Hermione found herself hoping that they would topple off just so that she wouldn’t have to have any sort of conversation with him where she had to attempt to explain why she had been staring. She hadn’t even been aware that she had been staring after all, but the way that he said ‘again’ made her feel uncomfortable. Was he aware of the feelings that she harboured? Surely not. If that were the case then he would be mercilessly teasing her about said feelings, would he not?

Unless…

Hermione shook her head violently in the hopes of making herself clear and also of clearing her head of any stupid thoughts that might have tempted her to do anything rash. There was no way that Malfoy could feel anything for her - he didn’t feel anything after all. At least that was what she had to convince herself of if she was going to make it out of this school year without doing anything stupid.

“I never thought I’d see the day when Hermione Granger was speechless.” Malfoy mused as he picked up the book from the top of his pile and leafed through the pages in what looked like a nonchalant manner. Hermione had to wonder if it was all for show or if he really was this cavalier. The boy that she had known had always worn his heart on his sleeve, with his emotions just sitting there under the surface, but that boy wasn’t here anymore.

“I’m not speechless. I was - I was daydreaming.” She confessed, stuttering somewhat despite herself and hating herself for it. “You pulled me back before I was ready.”

“I thought you were meant to be studying or have you forgotten all about the History exam in the morning?” Malfoy asked, an eyebrow lifted as he glanced up at her, though the look was only brief and his eyes soon returned to the page.

Hermione hated how flippant he was being about all of this. She hated that she couldn’t read him at all. That was something that she didn’t particularly like about people in the first place, that they were at all like books, that people didn’t make their intentions or their thoughts known.

“I haven’t forgotten at all.” She muttered as she picked up her own book and tried to figure out where she had left off, though part of her was all too aware that it would take a miracle for her to be able to find it. “Some of us don’t leave the studying until the last minute, you see.” She added, not meaning to make out that she was better than him but unable to help that it came out that way. It was a pet peeve of hers so she hated that she had become that person.

“Oh shush.” Malfoy groaned, a roll of his eyes punctuating the fact that the pair of them really did need to get some reading done before they could call it a night. Hermione decided to leave him to it and to start the chapter over.

The fire had started to die when Hermione finally looked up from her book. She didn’t feel anymore prepared for the exam than she had been before she had started to read but she was pretty sure that her head was going to explode from all of the information that it now held. She had a headache now and so she was sure that the only way that she could even show up for the exam was if she got a decent night’s sleep.

“Granger?” Malfoy’s soft voice made her jump. She had forgotten that he was still in their common room, living room, whatever you wanted to call it.

“What do you want?” She asked as she just about managed to get her breathing back under control and turned to face him again. He looked almost as shattered as she felt, which Hermione decided was a good thing - it meant that they were going to be on the same level for the exam in the morning.

“No need for the hostility.” Malfoy was holding his hands up in a surrender. “I just wanted to ask you a question.”

Hermione blinked a couple of times as he tried to figure out what Malfoy could possibly want to ask her. He was  _ almost _ as clever as she was so she was doubtful that he would want to ask her anything about their classes or anything that he had just read. That would almost be an insult to his own intelligence, to his own attention to detail and work ethic. But she didn’t know what he could possibly want otherwise.

“Go ahead.” She gave a small wave, hoping that he would just get it over with but for some reason she found that he needed to stand to ask whatever he needed to. For some reason he needed to be so close to her that their faces were only inches from each other’s. Hermione couldn’t breathe - there was that feeling that he had taken all the air out of the room again and she could feel all of the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck standing on edge.

“It’s not really a question.” Malfoy’s voice was a whisper now. Hermione could feel his warm breath flickering against her skin, bathing over her cheeks in a way that should have warmed her but it just made her heartbeat faster and her blood rush to her cheeks. She hated him for making her feel like this.

“Then what is it?” She managed to make herself ask. Her voice was just that little bit higher than she would have liked but if he commented on it then she would just blame it on her headache - even if said headache was the very last thing on her mind now.

“I know about you and Ron.”

Hermione swallowed thickly. She wanted to know how he had found out about that considering the fact that the two of them travelled in very different circles so there wasn’t even the smallest possibility that she had heard it from Ron or one of their friends. She couldn’t seem to make herself ask how she knew, part of her knowing that this would have been an admittance of her break up and for some reason she didn’t particularly want Malfoy to know.

“I know about you and Ron.” Malfoy repeated, and his fingers were suddenly on her cheek, running over her skin and she could taste her heartbeat now. “And so I want to finally do the very thing that I’ve wanted to do since they forced us into this tower together.”

Hermione wanted to ask what he meant by that but before she could even attempt to get those words out she found that his lips were pressed to hers. She didn’t know why but she could feel the tears building up in the backs of her eyes. She didn’t know what the tears were for and so she was hoping that Draco wouldn’t notice them. It helped that she felt compelled to kiss him back.

She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and kissed him back, somehow managing to force the tears back, knowing that if she allowed them to fall now then she would have to explain to him why she was even crying in the first place. She knew that it made no sense at all, but then she had never really been able to understand her own emotions all that well - let alone those of anyone else.

When Malfoy pulled back, a smirk - but not an arrogant one - on his lips, she felt as if she was at least a little bit in control of herself. Part of her had to wonder if this was all part of some wind up, if he was trying to get back at her for the punch that she had given him so many years ago, or if this was real.

“What was that for?” She found herself asking. She wasn’t in control of the words that were tumbling out of her mouth, it would seem.

“I told you. I wanted to.” Malfoy gave a small shrug as if it wasn’t at all a big deal, even though it was the biggest deal in the whole world for her. She’d had a crush on him for months now, how could he find the audacity to just walk up to her and  _ kiss _ her like that? She found that she was disgusted all over again - though she didn’t know if that disgust was aimed towards the way that he could just be so open about the things that he wanted when she knew the world that he had come from or if it was aimed at herself for not being able to be as open when that was probably all that she wanted to be.

“But  _ why _ ?” She pressed, unable to comprehend anything until it was explicitly spelled out to her. Her head was still pounding despite the kiss’ attempt to help clear it.

“Hermione Granger…” He began, his voice soft and somewhat small. “I really,  _ really  _ like you."

"You like me?" Hermione couldn't help that her eyes were widening,but she found that she was just glad that she was no longer on the verge of crying.

"For someone so incredibly bright, you're also incredibly dense, huh?" He said softly, his fingers now twisting into her curls in a way that told her that she wasn't going to manage to get to bed any time soon, not that she wanted to leave him either while she tried to figure him out.

"But - but…" She stuttered out before she realised that she was unable to make words make sense - once again she was speechless and it was all Malfoy's fault.

It really did not help that he was stood in front of her with one eyebrow raised in an expectant way while she attempted to straighten her thoughts out, which was no easy task at the moment. He didn't say anything though, which she appreciated, though she felt that it was perhaps just another way that he was torturing her.

Hermione made herself take a breath before she could speak, her eyes fixed on his as she gave him one final chance to own up to anything, to own up to this being a trick, but there was nothing in his eyes to tell her that. “Why did you tell me tonight?” She decided to ask. Considering the hour and the exam that they had in the morning, it seemed like strange timing. She wondered for a moment if he was trying to throw her off of her game so that she would fail the exam and he would end up as top of the class, but that seemed like a petty thing and while the old Malfoy wouldn’t have hesitated to stoop that low, the new one was an adult and adults didn’t do such thing.

“I don’t know.” Malfoy admitted with a small shrug. “It just felt like the right time. You’ve had a few weeks to get over the Weasel now and I didn’t feel like I was taking advantage of you, so it felt like the right time to do it.”

Hermione paused for a moment before she gave a small nod. She couldn’t argue with that one, it did feel like the right time. “How did you know I wouldn’t hex you?” She found herself asking. It was a serious question when you took into account that Hermione had hexed him for a lot less and it wouldn’t have surprised either of them.

“I took my chances.” He said with a small shrug, a small smile still on his lips though Hermione could tell that it was faltering and that that was all her fault. She was taking the ‘magic’ from this moment and he would not forgive that if she didn’t just suck up her pride and keep her wandering mind in check. She had to just accept that he liked her and stop overthinking the whole damn thing.

She leaned in and kissed him again before she had the chance to rethink her own actions, and this time it felt as if fireworks were going off above their heads. She knew how cliche this was and if she dared to say it aloud to Malfoy then she would have expected him to make fun of her for it. She would have made fun of him for it if their roles were reversed.

As she pulled back, he ran his fingers along her skin, cupping her cheek in his hand.

“You know, Granger,” He began, his voice soft but somehow managing to swirl around the whole room and enveloping them in what felt like a bubble outside of time itself, “I don’t think that I  _ just _ like you after all.”

Hermione couldn’t help but frown at this. She had only just managed to wrap her head around the idea that he was returning the feelings that she had for him, and the serious expression on his face seemed to suggest that this was something important, that there was something important that he needed to say.

Before she managed to ask him what he meant by that, however, it seemed that Malfoy needed to get whatever it was off of his chest, or at least he needed to explain himself, which actually bode well for him in Hermione’s mind.

“I think I love you, Granger.” His voice was a whisper but Hermione knew that there was no possible way that he could have accidentally misheard that one. Hermione had never had those words said to her before and so she was able to overlook the words that preceded the three little words she had never been convinced that she would hear - well, not from anyone other than Harry that was.

She said nothing, though. She didn’t know how to make any words come out of her mouth just then and so she ended up just staring at the blond who seemed to know that he had dropped a massive bombshell on her not once but twice.

“I don’t expect you to say anything, so don’t feel like I want an answer right now or anything. I’m not trying to pressure you into anything either. I just wanted you to know how I feel. I needed you to know how I feel.” He went on in a way that wasn’t exactly helpful, but Hermione knew that now he had started confessing he probably found it difficult to stop.

“Malfoy.” She held up a hand which she ended up lying on his chest over his heart which she could feel was hammering at a hundred miles an hour. This alone sent chills down her spine as she met his gaze again. “I could love you.” She whispered, her voice shaking slightly as she tried to tap into her own feelings, into how she felt deep down inside. “I could love you, but I’m scared of what that means. I’m terrified of what that love will do to me - to us.”

Hermione was surprised to see that he nodded, as if he was able to just accept this without a second thought. For some reason this made her stomach constrict. She hadn’t intended to hurt him in any shape or form, she had just wanted to be honest with him. She allowed herself to scan his face for any signs of pain but he was skilled at not giving anything away and so she saw nothing but what he wanted her to see and that was that smile of his.

“I think…” He began though he trailed off and gave a slight shake of his head before he started again. “I’m going to give you time to process all of this - and maybe even time to sleep so you can pass tomorrow’s exam as well.”

Hermione swallowed thickly but she couldn’t argue with that one. She had needed sleep before they had embarked on this conversation and that need to sleep had only grown as time had trickled on. “Thank you.” She whispered. She leaned forward to steal another kiss, just a quick one this time, but she wanted him to know that she was at least considering that her feelings could grow to be more than a crush. She knew that the only thing stopping her was her own thoughts, her own doubts.

“Goodnight Hermione.” Malfoy called after her as she turned and headed into her room, the door on the other side of their living room. She was glad that he could only see the back of her head as she disappeared through her bedroom door because she could feel her cheeks burning at the way that he had dared to use her first name. She’d never heard him say it before and it had sounded like poetry.

And for the first time she didn’t even feel disgusted with herself for the way that she felt about a certain Slytherin. This, of course, was brand new territory for her, and for Malfoy as well she was sure, and even though it was completely uncharted, and despite what she had told him about being terrified, she found that she wasn’t at all scared.

As she flopped down on her bed, Hermione actually found that she was  _ happy _ that he had kissed her, that he had confessed how he felt to her. She couldn’t quite understand how she had gotten to that point, but now that she was there, she didn’t particularly care. She took a slow breath before she realised that she didn’t want Malfoy to go to bed yet and before she had even managed to finish that thought, she was back up on her feet.

Hermione opened her bedroom door only to find that Malfoy was standing on the other side with his hand raised ready to know. She couldn’t help but chuckle to herself that he had had the same thought. Without saying another word, she wrapped her arms around his neck once more and crashed her lips against his. Once again he had her speechless, but there were no words to describe what she felt anyway.


End file.
